Compression connectors for connecting together two or more electrical conductors are well-known. Connectors such as these typically accommodate stripped electrical conductors in individual connector nests. A suitable crimping tool is used to crimp the connector around the conductor. Many of these compression-type connectors are of the H-Tap variety, that is the connector body has an H-shaped cross section. H-Taps provide upper and lower conductor nests, each nest being defined by a bottom wall and upstanding sidewalls. The sidewalls are adapted to be deformed upon application of a crimping force applied by a crimping tool to draw the sidewalls around the conductor to thereby compress the conductor within the nest of the H-Tap.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,964,585, an H-Tap compression connector is shown. The upper ends of the sidewalls are dimension such that upon crimping, the upper edges may not completely encircle the conductor. An attempt to lengthen the sidewalls could result in the sidewalls contacting each other during crimping prior to encircling the conductor thereby resulting in an ineffective crimp.
Attempts to solve this problem are seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,235,654 where a deformable tab is provided at the outer edge of one of the sidewalls. The deformable tab may be folded over the conductor so that during crimping the conductor is entirely enclosed. Other examples of such connectors are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,354,517 and 3,330,903. However, it can be seen that employing extending tabs such as this greatly increases the cost of the connector as well as complicates the crimping operation.
A further attempt to provide a completely enclosed crimp in an H-Tap is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,162,615 where an H-Tap is provided having upstanding sidewalls of sufficient length to entirely encircle the conductor. In order to avoid the problem of the walls engaging one another prior to full crimping, this H-Tap provides one sidewall having an inwardly curled upper extent. Thus, upon application of a crimping force, the inwardly curled extent will cause this sidewall to deform prior to the other sidewall so that the sidewalls overlap about the conductor. While this solves the problem of encircling the conductor, it does require formation of an inwardly curled upper extent of the sidewall. This may present a problem in the field when conductors are inserted into the crimping nest as it reduces the opening in which the conductor is inserted. Also, the curved upper end may not be entirely reliable and may suffer from the disadvantages of the prior art H-Taps.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide an H-Tap connector which will permit the reliable overlapping of the side- walls of the nest during crimping.